ULEMCo completes first hydrogen dual-fuel conversion

ULEMCo has completed its first hydrogen dual-fuel conversion in which HVO is used on the vehicle rather than diesel.

The waste collection truck for Keenan Recycling shows best-in-class “environmental sustainability” by combining the use of hydrogen to reduce tailpipe emissions with the “drop-in” renewable fuel.

The conversion shows that hydrogen dual-fuel can work equally well with diesel or the non-fossil fuel HVO, to address both direct tailpipe CO2 emission reduction from the hydrogen (typically 30%), along with the use of a sustainable fuel that can avoid up to 90% of net CO2 emissions.

HVO – for hydrotreated vegetable oil –  is an alternative to regular diesel and is produced from waste material such as recycled vegetable oil. It can be sustainable if it is produced from a waste-derived feedstock that does not contribute to deforestation. Combining this with the zero carbon fuel hydrogen opens up an exciting opportunity for negative carbon solutions.

The waste truck will go into operation at the end of this month in Aberdeen, where an existing hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is supplied by electrolytic production. This provides a great location for operators like Keenan to access a reliable source of green hydrogen and roll out scaled fleet-wide conversions.

Amanda Lyne, Managing Director of ULEMCo, said, “Hydrogen is recognised as an important part of the solution to decarbonise the UK economy in the transport and construction sectors where electrification is difficult to achieve.”

Grant Keenan, Managing Director at Keenan Recycling, said, “Following the Aberdeen trial, we plan to include hydrogen increasingly in our transport road map.”